Tico Tuesday, June 28th

What happened over the course of the past week at church is really wonderful and exciting in a number of ways. Bathrooms, light fixtures, the rest of the platform, and new projectors all got installed, mud was covered over, areas were finished and painted, and while cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, I was able to get to know several people from church better. And God was doing some work on my pride--reminding me that all my hard work should be an offering unto him, not so people could see me and say what a good hard worker I am.

The inaugural weekend itself was amazing. We opened with a worship concert on Friday night. Our youth group's band did a very nice job opening and the band that followed them led us in a wonderful time of worship as well. Then the inaugural ceremonies were Saturday and Sunday evening. We had two identical ceremonies so everyone could fit. There was singing to the Lord; brief performances from the theater ministry out of which our church was born and a glimpse of the circus that has also stemmed from the theater; a video of our church's history; a children's choir; glow sticks (symbolizing being light in the world); video greetings from Marcos Vidal (a Christian musician from Spain who did a concert for us a few years ago to help raise money for the building), Rick Warren, and others; a homily; prayers; and then the cutting of the ribbon, followed by a high energy song declaring God's greatness and strength. (I wish I had a video! Here is a similar version.)
The final surprises of the night started with a cimarrona (see-ma-ROH-nah), a band very typical of our beloved province, Heredia. It consists of percussion, a couple brass instruments, and a saxophone, and is accompanied by people in giant masks/costumes who dance around. They led us outside where we then had fireworks! As you can see, there were a number of different elements contained in the ceremony. They all served to remind us who we are, whose we are, and what we are to do. But above all else, it was a big fiesta celebrating God and his grace, faithfulness, love, provision, power, strength, nearness, holiness, and desire for everyone to know, love, and worship him. And we all got to dress up to celebrate--that was fun and made it even more special.
My heart is overflowing with thanks and praise to God: a year ago I was just arriving to Mexico, not knowing what God had in store for me. Now I have had the privilege of being back in Costa Rica for six months, being a part of this special time with my church! Praise the Lord! I look forward to what he has in store in the future! He is so GOOD!
May you see his goodness in your life this week,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, June 21st

It's the final countdown! This weekend my church is having our big inauguration!
The staff meeting this morning was intense with final details about how many volunteers and who will do what where and reserving seat for special guests and logistics for some of the surprises we are inviting. There is a lot of adrenaline flowing and a lot to do by the end of the week. There is some stress and pressure because there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Yes, the tico style of inaugurating is quite different. We are still very much in the process of construction. Things need to be painted, bathrooms and a few more doors installed, the office space above the lobby isn't finished yet, the outside of the building needs to be painted, etc. But we are so excited and grateful to have a space that is our own and solely dedicated to proclaiming and worshiping God! The inauguration weekend starts with a worship concert Friday night with the band from our youth group ministry followed by one of the worship groups from Vida Abundante Coronado, our "big sister" from whom we were founded. Then on Saturday and Sunday we will have our big, formal inauguration ceremonies. I can't tell you everything that will happen yet, but it's going to be very powerful and exciting: lots of different elements, each one to remember and celebrate something. Rudy, our head pastor, has been planning this for months with a team of people and we can hardly believe the big weekend is just a couple days away! We are excited, we are a little stressed, and we are in need of a lot of prayer: for all the staff, members of the church, and for all the special guests who are coming from all over Costa Rica, and some from the States and other places. Please pray with us for everything to come together and go smoothly--and that we would do everything for God's honor and glory. And pray that God would use this new building so that even more people may come to know and love him. Thank you!
To God alone be the glory! He is worthy of all our praise!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday. June 14th

Happy Tuesday to you!

This past week we recorded the videos that we'll use as the primary material for my church's next series, which will start in August. My supervisor don José found the material in English and really liked it, but it didn't exist in Spanish, so he translated the whole thing and then got the church staff and a few other people from church to be recorded. I was a little surprised that he wanted the gringa to be recorded too, but part of it talks about small groups and it definitely made the most sense for me to do that part. Putting this video together has been a ton of work, but we trust that this series on Life-giving Relationships will powerfully impact the lives of everyone in our church.
Things continue to progress in small groups. On Saturday we had another training. Not many people came because the Father's Day activity was that morning and the last training was only 3 weeks ago, but I felt it was important to not cancel. Also last week I ended up having a 4 hour meeting with my small group team. We are getting more organized and are about to call all the facilitators in order to build a relationship with them and provide better support to each group according to its needs. And God is answering our prayers! This past week I had 2 people contact me and say they are interested in helping more with small groups! I'm not sure these people will end up on the core team I'm working on building, but still to have people interested is a wonderful blessing! The small group ministry needs lots of helping hands! Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for this team and for the calls we'll be making to each of the facilitators. Please also be in prayer for my church in general. It is an exciting time and we are growing and great things are happening, but that means we need to remain all the more humble, united, holy, and flexible, as Rudy our head pastor has been preaching.
Thank you so much for walking with me on this great journey! How great is our God!
Carrie